The present invention relates generally to gun barrel cleaning devices, and more particularly, to a gun barrel cleaner having a flexible shaft and a compact container for storing and transporting such a gun barrel cleaner.
Although a sportsman's firearm is typically cleaned at home, it sometimes is desirable or absolutely necessary to clean a gun barrel in a field or camp. For example, if a gun barrel bore becomes clogged with mud or snow while a sportsman is hunting, the hunter must for his own safety remove the obstruction from the barrel bore. Often, when a hunter has such a bore obstruction in his gun it is not convenient or expeditious for him to return home for the sole purpose of cleaning the gun barrel.
In the past, most gun barrel cleaning devices comprised an elongated rigid rod having a cleaning brush secured to one end. Such cleaning devices were obviously cumbersome to transport and difficult to store because of their length and rigidity. Many attempts have been made to produce a less cumbersome gun barrel cleaning device. For example, Lewis et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 3,208,302, and Schnitger, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,559,376, each disclose an elongated gun cleaning device constructed of a plurality of axially aligned pieces which can be partially disassembled. Even so, in both devices a relatively long length of rigid rod remains, to which pieces can be added. Thus, these devices are still quite cumbersome to store and transport.
Another, more effective, approach to producing a less cumbersome product has been to incorporate a flexible cleaning shaft as part of the gun barrel cleaning/device. For example, Malesky, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,627, discloses a gun cleaning device having an elongated flexible shaft with a slotted link swivelly secured to one end of the flexible shaft and a tubular coupling member swivelly secured to the other end of the flexible shaft. The shaft essentially consists of several layers of tightly wound metal coil and is sufficiently flexible to be wound yet is resistant to torque. There are several drawbacks, however, to such known gun barrel cleaning devices having flexible cleaning shafts.
First and most importantly, such gun cleaning devices can only endure the application of fairly low pressures before breaking. It may be desirous in the course of cleaning a gun barrel to pull a relatively large cleaning patch through a gun barrel bore to effect a more efficient cleaning of the barrel. If a slightly oversized cleaning patch is to be pulled through a barrel bore, the application of significant pulling force or pressure may be necessary, the magnitude of which most cleaning devices having flexible shafts are unable to withstand. Obviously, should a portion of a gun barrel cleaning device break within a barrel bore, a bore obstruction is created which will be difficult and time consuming to remove.
Secondly, such gun barrel cleaning devices are normally restricted either in terms of the range of gun barrel bore diameters which may be properly cleaned thereby or in terms of the number and type of cleaning tip combinations which may be attached to the flexible shaft to facilitate gun barrel cleaning. For example, in the noted Malesky patent since the flexible shaft has a slotted link permanently swivelly secured at one end, a limited number of cleaning tip combinations are possible, which necessarily restricts the versatility and usefulness of the cleaning device.
Lastly, such gun barrel cleaning devices generally have inadequate, inconvenient or unnecessarily limiting storage and transportation containers or structures. For example, Goodwin et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 2,897,525, describes a cleaning device having two different cleaning tips secured to opposite ends of a flexible cleaning shaft. One cleaning tip has a slot or eye therein and the other tip consists of a brush with an elongated portion at its free end such that when the flexible shaft is coiled the elongated portion is capable of being engageably retained within the eye, thereby ensuring the cleaning shaft remains in a coiled position. There are several drawbacks, however, to such a storage approach, primarily resulting from permanent attachment of the cleaning tips to the flexible shaft. Since the cleaning tips are affixed to the flexible shaft a somewhat larger coiled form than could otherwise be obtained necessarily exists and the versatility and usefulness of the cleaning device is necessarily limited.
Therefore, there presently exists a genuine need for a gun barrel cleaning device having a flexible shaft which is capable of withstanding moderate and high pulling stresses, and which is capable of cleaning a wide range of gun barrels quickly and efficiently. Further, there is a need for a compact container for storing and transporting such a gun barrel cleaner.